Apparatus and method for de-registering tow



March 3, 1970 J. R. BROWNELL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DE-REGISTERING TOW 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 25, 1967 INVENTOR. JOHN R. BROWNELL ATTOR N EYS J R. BROWNELL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR March 3, 1970 DE-REGISTERING TOW 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 25, 1967 JOHN R. BROWN.ELL

wflf-w ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,497,920 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DE-REGESTERING TOW John R. Brownell, Telford, Pa., assignor to Turbo Machine Company, Lansdale, Pa., a corporation of Penn sylvania Filed Oct. 25, 1967, Ser. No. 677,910 Int. Cl. D01b 3/04; D02g 3/00 US. C]. 19-65 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tow of crimped textile material is passed through a machine to de-register the crimp, that is, to move the adjacent filaments in the tow with respect to one another so that the crimps in the filaments are out of phase or nonaligned with one another. The machine includes a pair of draw rollers which are elastically surfaced and have interroll pressure to supply the force necessary to draw the tow sheet through the machine. Spaced ahead of these rollers, is a second pair of elastically surfaced tension rollers with interroll pressure, at least one of which has a circumferentially profiled surface. The tow passes between this roller and its mating elastically surfaced roller and then through the draw rollers, thereby displacing some of the filaments relative to other filaments in the tow. Spaced ahead of this second pair of tension rollers, is a roller which has a series of sharp circumferential grooves and ridges thereon, and the tow, which is under tension, is separated into separate bundles with various tensions a, it passes over this roller. A mechanism actuates this roller to reciprocate it transversely to the direction of advancement of the tow. These reciprocations are adjustable as to length of stroke, frequency, and dwell at the end of each stroke.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a novel apparatus and process for opening a filamentary tow; this invention being directed particularly to tow made of continuous filament synthetic textile material which has been crimped.

In the prior art, various apparatus and processes have been developed to open or de-register the tow prior to conducting further operations on the tow, such as chemically treating it or cutting it into short lengths for further processing. Such apparatus, for instance, as shown in US. Patent 3,156,016, issued Nov. 10, 1964, includes a pair of rollers which are elastically surfaced through which the tow is drawn in a belt-like mass. Spaced along the tow upstream of these rollers, is a second pair of rollers through which the tow passes. These rollers impart a retarding force on portions of the tow at spaced intervals transversely of the path of the tow. These rollers generally consist of a smooth surface roller and a mating roller having a plurality of grooves and ridges thereon which serve to grip the tow at spaced intervals across the width of the tow. When the tow emerges from the first set of rollers, it is partially de-registered, that is, the crimps in adjacent filaments in the tow are no longer aligned with one another so as to mate perfectly, but rather are disoriented or out of phase with one another so that they do not fit snugly together.

There are numerous reasons for wanting to de-register the tow. One such reason is to eliminate the incidence of shiners. Shiners are areas in the tow wherein the crimps of adjacent filaments are more or less perfectly mated or registered. When partially de-registered tow is chemically treated or cut into staple lengths, and/or formed into sliver or top, the shiners tend to remain joined and, therefore, there is a lack of uniformity in the finished product.

3,497,920 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 Known apparatus and methods for de-registering tow have not been completely successful in eliminating shiners.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention covers an apparatus and method for de-registering a filamentary tow sheet which includes passing the tow over a traversing roller which reciprocates the tow transversely of its direction of travel, prior to passing it through drawing and tensioning rollers.

Accordingly, a principal object of this invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for de-registering tow by reciprocating the tow sheet transversely as it advances to the tow tensioning rollers.

Another object is to provide an apparatus to substantially reduce or eliminate the incidence of shiners in the tow.

Another object is to provide a new method of reducing or substantially eliminating the incidence of shiners in tow.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following disclosure with reference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a tow opening apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a section taken as indicated by the lines and arrows 11-11 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view taken as indicated by the lines and arrows III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a face view of tow prior to de-registration of the crimp in the filaments of the tow;

FIG. 6 is a face view of tow subsequent to de-registration of the crimp;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a tow opening apparatus in accordance with an alternate embodiment of my invention; and

FIG. 8 is a section taken as indicated by the lines and arrows VIII-VIII in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Although specific forms of the invention have been selected for illustration in the drawings, and the following description is drawn in specific terms for the purpose of describing these forms of the invention, this description is not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 shows schematically an apparatus for de-registering filamentary tow in accordance with a preferred embodiment of my invention. The tow sheet 10 is withdrawn from a container 11 and is passed over one or more guide and tension bars designated 12, to maintain the proper tension in the tow and to guide it to the traversing guide 13. The tow passes around, and is engaged with a portion of the circumferential surface of the traversing guide, 13, as it advances longitudinally into a station comprising a set of rollers (designates 14). These rollers 14 grip the tow at transversely spaced intervals, and pull the tow from the container 11 through the apparatus. The tow emerges from rollers 14 in a partially tie-registered condition due to filaments having different tensions while being pulled over the sharp circumferential ridges and grooves of the traverse guide 13 and being gripped at spaced intervals as it is pulled by the tensioning rollers 14. The de-registered tow then is passed between a pair of drive rollers 18 which impart an additional positive drive thereto and draw it through the apparatus. The tow emerges from the drive rollers 18 in a de-registered condition and is ready for further processing, as for example,

being chemically treated and/ or cut to form top or sliver in the apparatus designated generally 20, which may be of any type well-known in the art. The processed tow then is passed to further appropriate processing devices 22 by transport means 21.

Referring to FIG. 2, the details of the traversing guide 13 are shown. The traversing guide 13 preferably comprises a substantially cylindrical roller 13a having a plurality of V-shaped annular grooves 13b therein; said grooves forming a plurality of sharply pointed annular ridges 130. The roller 13a is supported in a frame 24 which may be an integral part of the overall apparatus as desired. It is not necessary that the roller be free to rotate in the frame 24, however, it is necessary that means be provided for sliding the roller in the frame, so that it may be reciprocated, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2. To this end, bearing means 26 are provided which are affixed to the frame 24 and retain the roller 13a for sliding engagementv therewith.

The mechanism for reciprocating the traversing guide 13 is shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. It comprises a lever arm 28 which is pivotally connected at its lower end to the frame 24 by the clevis arrangement 30. A yoke 32 embraces the lever arm at the upper end, and the arm i pivotally connected to the yoke 32 by means of pin 33 which passes through a clearance hole in the lever arm 28. The yoke is fixedly connected to the piston rod 34 (FIG. 2). The piston rod is connected to the piston of a pneumatic double-acting piston and cylinder arrangement designated 36, which may be of any conventional type. Movement of the piston rod 34 pivots the lever arm 28 through a relatively small angle about the clevis pin 31. A link 38 is pin connected to one end of the traversing guide 13 and to the lever arm 28, so that the pivoting of the lever arm 28 slides the guide 13 in its bearings 26. Link 38 has a hole at either end, through each of which a pin passes with ample clearance, thereby permitting a loose pivotal connection with the lever arm and with the hub 40 which is fixedly connected to the roller 13a.

In FIG. 2, the tow sheet has been omitted for the sake of clarity. The rollers 14a and 14b are driven by any suitable means, such as the chain and sprocket drive 45 which is fixedly attached to the lower roller 14b to rotate said roller in the direction of the arrow (FIG. 3). Roller 14b is connected by means of gears (FIG. 2) to upper roller 14a to drive said roller in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 3. Roller 14b may be smooth surfaced and preferably is covered with a resilient material, such as hard rubber. The upper roller 14a preferably is circumferentially profiled as shown in FIG. 2. Its profile consists of a number of uniformly spaced annular ridges 17 having annular grooves 19 therebetween. The circumferential or annular ridges 17 are disposed perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical roller 14a. The surfaces of the rollers are in contact when there is no tow sheet in the apparatus, so that the rollers 14 grip the tow sheet when it is fed between them and impart a positive pull on the tow sheet. Thus the sheet is under tension as it is pulled across the traversing roller 13 and is partially de-registered thereafter.

Referring to FIG. 3, an air input conduit 50 from an air supply (not shown) is attached to a valve 51 fixed to the frame 24 of the apparatus in any conventional manner, as by bolts 52. Leading from the valve 51 are two air lines 53 and 54 which are attached, respectively, to opposite ends of the cylinder 36a. Pneumatic force is applied to either end of the pneumatic cylinder 36 through either of the conduits 53 or 54, to move the piston. The valve 51 is controlled by a plunger 55 actuated by a cam 48 mounted on upper roller 14a by means of screws 49, as shown in FIG. 3.

With the cam in the position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the plunger 55 f llows the larger diameter of the cam and controls the air flow through the valve 51, so that air under pressure flows through the air line 54 only and into the cylinder 3641, thereby forcing the piston therein to- Ward the left (as viewed in FIG. 2). The air in the line 53, being exhausted from the cylinder, passes through the valve 51 and out the exhaust valve 70 to the atmosphere. The piston rod 34 is thus pulled to the left, as is the yoke 32, thereby pivoting the lever arm 28 in a counterclockwise direction about the pin 31. This drives the link 38 to the left, thereby sliding the roller 13a to the left.

As the cam 48 continues to rotate, the plunger 55 will follow the cam surface and eventually will be riding along the smaller diameter surface of the cam. As the plunger moves from the larger diameter to the smaller diameter surface, it changes position in the valve 51 and permits air to flow through line 53 to the cylinder 36a, rather than line 54. Air under presure will then enter the cylinder 36a only through line 53 thereby forcing the piston therein to the right (as viewed in FIG. 2), and exhausing the air from line 54 through the rake 51 and out the valve 70. In so doing the piston pushes the rod 34 and yoke 32 to the right, thereby pivoting the lever arm 28 in a clockwise direction about pin 31 and pulling link 38 and roller 13a to the right.

The cam 48 in this embodiment preferably is designed to synchronize the reciprocations of the traversing guide 13 with the rotation of one of the rollers 14 so that the guide 13 is shifted from left to right or right to left every 180 degrees of rotation of the roller 14a. Other cams could be used within the scope of this invention. The reciprocations of the traversing guide 13 can be controlled, not only by the cam 48, but also by the air pressure and exhaust valve 70. All of these provide means for controlling the speed of the traverse stroke, the speed of reversal or length of time at the end of the traverse stroke, and the length of the traverse stroke. Thus, by changing the air pressure in line 50 and/or the back pressure by adjusting exhaust valve 70 and/ or changing the cam 48, the reciprocations can be manipulated.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5, and 6, I shall now describe the effects of this apparatus. The tow sheet 10 engages the traversing guide 13 and is divided into a plurality of multi-filament bundles. As the traversing guide 13 is reciprocated, the tow sheet 10 is likewise reciprocated transversely of the direction of advancement of the tow sheet through the apparatus. The V-shaped grooves 13b, however, do not completely retain each of the aforesaid multifilament bundles. Some of the filaments from each bundle ride up and over the crests 13c and into the adjacent grooves 13b as the traversing guide reciprocates. This also occurs during the dwell at the extremities of the stroke, since the tow continues to move across the traversing roller 13. Thus, the integrity of the multifilament bundles is constantly changing as they are fed into the nip of the tensioning rollers 14. In this regard, it is preferred to use a quick stroke in reciprocating the roller 13.

This plurality of separate bundles of filaments is then acted upon by the rollers 14. These rollers grip the advancing tow sheet in separate, ever changing groups of filaments. Thus, the griping of the tow in the rollers 14 is never uniform or uniformly repetitive across the tow sheet, but changes constantly, so that the tension in the filaments of the tow sheet is ever varying, the tow being partially de-re-gistered as it enters the tensioning rollers 14.

FIG. 5 shows schematically the top face of the tow sheet before it is fed into the traversing guide 13. In FIG. 6, the same face of the tow sheet is shown schematically downstream of the rollers 18. As shown, the crimps are substantially de-registered.

In the alternate embodiment of FIG. 7, more than one container 111 of tow is processed simultaneously. The tow is withdrawn from the containers over suitable guide and tension bars 112a and 11% in two separate. sheets w and 11%. Tow sheet 110a is fed to traversing guide 113a and tow sheet 11% is fed to traversing guide 113k. From the traversing guides, the separate sheets pass through separate sets of tensioning rollers 114a and 11412, respectively, and thence to drive rollers 118a and 118b, respectively. Thereafter, the sheets are drawn together at the nip of a pair of rolers 119, andare then further processed as a single sheet of tow 1100 in a similar fashion to that shown and described with reference to tow in FIG. 1 (similar numbers desi-gnating similar parts).

To accomplish dual oscillation of the tow sheets, I have provided a mechanism which is more clearly shown in FIG. 8. A mounting bracket 130 is affixed by any suitable means to the frame 124. Lever arm 128 is pivotally attached to the mounting bracket 130 as by means of pin 131. The upper end of the lever arm 128 is pivotally connected to yoke 32 by means of pin 33; the yoke being connected to the piston and cylinder arrangement 36 as previously described with reference to FIG. 2. The lever arm has a lower extension 128a. Traversing guide 113a reciprocates in bearings 126a and 12612 in the frame 124. At opposite ends of the traversing guide 113a are hubs 140a and 140b, each of which has a substantially rounded outwardly extending surface. Traversing guide 1131) similarly reciprocates in bearings 12fic and 126d, and has similar hubs 140:: and 140d at either end. A mounting bracket 132 is affixed to the frame 124 by any suitable means. Pivotally connected to the mounting bracket 132, as by pin 133, is lever arm 134. The mounting brackets 130 and 132 position their respective lever arms 128 and 134, so that the arms are continually in contact with the respective adjacent hubs 140w and 14% and 140a and 140d of the traversing guides 113a and 113b.

The cam and pneumatic piston and cylinder arrangement shown in FIGS, 2 and 3 is used in this embodiment also. As the cam 48, FIG. 3, rotates it actuates the valve 51 by means of the plunger 55 and thus the piston rod 34 is caused to reciprocate. When the piston rod 34 moves to the left (as viewed in FIG. 8) drawing with it the yoke 32 and causing the lever arm 128 to pivot counterclockwise about pin 131, the lever arm 128 by impinging on the adjacent hub 140a forces the traversing guide 113a to the left. The hub 14% of the traversing guide 113a which is adjacent to the lever 134 forces the lever arm 134 to be pivoted about the pin 133 in a counterclockwise direction, and the end of the lever 134 which is adjacent to the hub 1400 of the traversing guide 113b is in turn moved in a counterclockwise direction about the pin 133, so that it forces the traversing guide 113b to the right to the position shown in FIG. 8. Movement of the piston rod in the opposite direction causes the lever arms 128 and 134 to move in a clockwise direction about the pins 131 and 133 respectively, so that the traversing guide 113b is moved to the left and the traversing guide 113a is moved to the right.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangement of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the following claims.

It will further be understood that the Abstract of the Disclosure set forth above is intended to provide a nonlegal technical statement of the contents of the disclosure in compliance with the Rules of Practice of the United States Patent Office, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention described and claimed herein.

What is claimed is: V

1. In apparatus for de-registering tow:

(a) means for advancing a multifilament tow sheet longitudinally;

(b) means disposed in advance of said tow advancing means for frictionally gripping the tow sheet at spaced intervals transversely thereof; and

(0) means immediately in advance of said second mentioned means for reciprocating the tow sheet transversely as it advances to the second mentioned means, consisting of a single profiled surface for engaging the tow sheet as it advances and means coacting therewith to reciprocate the profiled surface transversely of the direction of advance of the tow sheet.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein means are disposed in advance of said profiled surface for tensioning the tow sheet as it passes over said profiled surface.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein said profiled surface comprises a substantially cylindrical body having a plurality of V-shaped circumferential grooves therein.

4. The invention of claim 3 wherein the means to reciprocate the cylindrical body comprises a fluid pressure operated piston, a lever connected to said piston at one point and pivoted about a second point, linkage means connecting said cylindrical body with said lever whereby when said piston pivots said lever about said second point, said body is moved transversely within said apparatus.

5. An apparatus as in claim 3 wherein control means are provided for synchronizing the transverse reciprocation of said cylindrical body with the rotation of said frictional gripping means.

6. An apparatus as in claim 5 wherein said frictional gripping means comprises a profiled roller and a smooth surface roller in engagement therewith and said control means comprises a cam fixedly connected to one of said rollers in said frictional gripping means, a fluid pressure control valve connected to said piston to control said piston, follower means connected to said valve and engaging said cam surface to follow said cam surface and control said valve.

7. A process of de-registering tow comprising:

(a) longitudinally advancing a multifilament tow sheet;

(b) subjecting said tow sheet to a gripping action at a plurality of spaced areas transversely of the direction of the advancement of the tow sheet so as to retard advancement at those areas;

(c) separating the advancing tow sheet into a plurality of multifilament bundles immediately in advance to the spaced gripping of said tow sheet; and

(d) reciprocating the entire tow sheet in its separated state by moving the entire sheet in one transverse direction and then another.

8. In a process as in claim 7, the additional step of tensioning the tow sheet through the separating step so that it is separated and reciprocated in a tensioned state.

9. In a process as in claim 7 the additional step of changing the integrity of the multifilament bundles while reciprocating said tow sheet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,232,348 2/1941 Svoboda 19-.51 3,032,829 5/1962 Mahoney et al l9-65 3,156,016 11/1964 Dunlap et al. 19--66 3,328,850 7/1967 Watson 1965 DORSEY NEWTON, Primary Examiner US, Cl. X.R. 281 

